Expenditure on protection and restoration of the environment

National statistical institute

"Environmental and Energy Account" Department

Zorka Borisova

State Expert

2 Panayot Volov St., 1038 Sofia

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 108

Data on environmental protection and restoration expenditures include expenditure for the acquisition of tangible fixed assets with ecological use (TFAEU) and intangible assets with an ecological use (TIFAEU) and expenditure for carrying out activities for the protection and restoration of the environment.

Expenditure for the acquisition tangible fixed assets and intangible assets include: invested funds for the construction of facilities, modernization and expansion of existing TFAEU, as well as those for licenses, know-how, patents and others; expenditure for acquisition of monitoring and control equipment.

The expenditure for maintaining TFAEU and carrying out measures for the protection and restoration of the environment include: the expenditure for operation and maintenance of TFAEU; the expenditure for conducting events not related to the use of TFAEU: reclamation, chemical melioration, biological and integrated plant protection, afforestation and landscaping activities, landscape protection, incl. protected areas and sites; the expenditure for operation and maintenance of the monitoring and control equipment; expenditure for administrative activities related to environmental protection.

The expenditure for protection and restoration of the environment provide information on the expenditure for acquisition and the expenditure for maintaining tangible fixed assets and carried out activities with an ecological use, distributed by environmental domain (water, air, waste and others).

They also provide information on the amounts paid for services (fees for discharge and wastewater treatment, fees paid to the MOEW for the reclamation of disturbed areas and fees for disposal and treatment waste, including annual fee municipal waste) in environmental domain.

-          Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2);

-          Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics in Bulgaria (NUTS)

Classification of Environmental Protection Activities and Expenditure, 2000 (CEPA 2000)

The statistical survey covers enterprises and kind-of-activity units from all economic activities.

The environmental protection and restoration expenditure represent the economic resources intended for all activities and actions that have as their main goal the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and any other environmental degradation.

Specialised equipment for the environment (end-of-pipe) - includes facilities, which are not involved in the production process and serve only to reduce pollution resulting from production.

Integrated technologies - elements of the production process/technologies, which resulted in achieving less environmental pollution compared to other similar technologies.

The statistical unit is enterprises and kind-of-activity unit.

The statistical population is determined by statistical units (enterprises, kind-of-activity units from all industry groups according NACE Rev.2 with more than 10 employed persons included in the Statistical Business Register (SBR). The selection of statistical units from the SBR takes into account type of the survey, which includes a combination of comprehensive and sample survey.

The list of statistical units of the statistical population includes:

Statistical units for comprehensive survey. They are determinate according to the SBR and comprise all enterprises with main and additional economic activity according NACE Rev.2 as follows: division 37 - Sewerage, division 38 - Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery, without group 38.3 - Materials recovery; division 39 - Remediation activities and other waste management services. The list for comprehensive survey also includes statistical units, which have available facilities, installations and equipment that are part of the DMAEP, or have introduced/acquired during the year DMAEP.

For the part of non-covered statistical units, due to the large number of enterprises, simple random samples are selected.

Total for the country.

1997-2022

Not applicable.

-          Statistical survey "Environmental protection and restoration expenditure";

-          Administrative sources (Eurostat - published data from the BNB's balance of payments).

Information from other statistical surveys (environmental statistics - "Public water supply, sewerage and treatment", Structural business statistics, National accounts, Statistics on foreign trade) is also used for defining the general population, data validation and making estimations.

Annual

From the respondents, according to their activities, data are collected for:

-          the funds spent on specialised facilities for environmental protection and restoration;

-          the funds spent on integrated technologies for the protection and restoration of the environment and their purpose according to the elements: air protection and climate, wastewater management, waste management, protection and cleaning of soils, underground and surface water, noise and vibrations reduction, biodiversity and landscape protection, radiation protection, research and development activity, other environmental protection activities.

Data collected on the funds spent on specialised facilities and integrated technologies refer both to the expenditure for acquiring tangible fixed assets and intangible assets, as well as to the expenditure for maintaining tangible fixed assets with ecological use and the activities carried out in this area.

Data validation is part of the activities to ensure the quality of statistical information. Primary data are validated in terms of completeness, correct classification, units of measurement, comparability with previous years, comparability with data from other statistical areas and/or administrative sources, logical control, etc.

Statistical data are validated in terms of their comparability, accuracy, reliability, etc., in accordance with the quality criteria according to the Statistics Act.

The data processing is carried out by strictly applying the survey's methodology and data verification methods.

The data processing includes actions by which, based on the primary data, put into an appropriate form, the statistical data are calculated, using specialized software products.

Not applicable.

Data quality is ensured by applying the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and the NSS Common Framework for Quality Management including through the application of the internal methodology "Environmental Statistics Accounts", developed by the NSI.

Quality assurance activities ensure compliance with the requirements of the Statistics Act in terms of quality criteria: adequacy, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and logical coherence. They also ensure the application of the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice: sound methodology; appropriate statistical procedures; moderate respondent burden; cost-effectiveness; relevance; accuracy; timeliness and accuracy of presentation; comparability and coherence; accessibility and clarity.

The quality assessment is carried out at each stage of the statistical production process, in accordance with the General Framework for Quality Management in the NSS and the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice. She including statistical processes and statistical information. For quality assessment the requirements of the current methodological documents, including the instructions in the internal methodology "Environmental Statistics Accounts", developed by the NSI.

To  quality assessments of the data, their consistency is checked with the data from the Structural Business Statistics, Non-Financial National Accounts, and statistics on foreign trade in goods, as well as with Environmental Goods and Services and Revenues and expenditure for municipal waste and expenditure for water supply infrastructure and other statistics in NSI.

Efforts are being made to continuously improve the quality of the data by improving the primary data collection system through the online-based ESIS, ensuring strict arithmetic and logical control of the input data, and performing additional analyses and verifications.

The data on environmental protection and restoration expenditure evaluates the financial commitment of an economy to environmental protection, how environmental protection and restoration expenditure affect international competitiveness, the application of the polluter pays principle and the cost-effectiveness of environmental control mechanisms.

Main users of survey's statistical information are the state and municipal entities, associations (NIPS), enterprises and citizens.

NSI conducts a regular statistical survey "User satisfaction with the provided statistical information products and services", which covers all statistical areas. It aims to assess the satisfaction of users with the statistical information provided by NSI and to define recommendations for the future development of the statistical system in accordance with the needs of users.

The data complies with the requirements of the applicable legislation in terms of scope and observable indicators.

Not applicable

The accuracy of the data, as one of the criteria for the quality of statistical information, according to the Statistics Act, is guaranteed through the quality assurance activities within the statistical production process.

To assess the stochastic accuracy of the survey results, coefficients of variation (relative standard errors) and confidence intervals (the range of values ​​that in 95% of cases contain the true value of the indicator in the general population) are calculated for the main indicators, i.e. the estimated total value of the indicators is in the middle of the confidence interval, which is calculated as follows: the estimated total value of the indicators is in the middle of the confidence interval, which is calculated as follows: the estimated total value of the relevant indicator based on sample data -/+ the maximum error (stochastic error multiplied by a guarantee factor).

- Coefficient of variation - %

- Standard error

- Confidence intervals

The survey may contain non-sampling errors that occur at different stages of the survey and that cannot be completely eliminated.

The main reasons for non-response are, on the one hand, the lack of an up-to-date survey framework at the time of sample formation (e.g., enterprises that have been restructured, closed or have ceased operations in the reported/reference period) and, on the other hand, refusal to participate in the survey or failure to contact. In order to reduce non-sampling errors, the following is carried out:

- Updating the lists of monitored enterprises;

- Developing a clear survey toolkit, continuously supplementing and updating it;

- Conducting regular training seminars for TSO experts;

- Assistance to respondents and TSO experts from the survey team at the NSI;

- Data control at the stage of collection, entry and processing.

-          Over-coverage,

-          Under-coverage,

-          Misclassification.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Measurement errors are errors that occur during data collection and lead to differences between the recorded and actual values of the survey variables.

These errors are related to:

- inaccurate or incomplete records by respondents

- incorrectly recorded data by the Department "Statistical Surveys (DSSs)

Measurement errors are reduced by clear guidelines and instructions for completing the statistical survey form, and checking the data based on clearly defined criteria regarding their completeness, correct classification of environmental goods/services, units of measurement, comparability with previous years, logical and arithmetical controls on input data, etc.

environmental goods/services, units of measurement, comparability with previous years, logical and arithmetical controls on input data, etc.

Non-response errors are determined by collecting any:

- unit response rate,

- weighted unit response rate,

- item response rate,

- item coverage rate,

- refusal rate,

- distribution of reason for non-response,

- comparison of data across contacts,

- link to administrative data for non- respondents,

- estimate of non-response bias.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Processing  errors are:

-          Location of the object and number of reports of economic entities;

-          Measure units;

-          Errors in the reported data;

-          Expenditures type incurred;

-          Data duplication;

-          Incomplete reports.

Not applicable.

Not estimate.

Not applicable.

According to the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and the requirements of the internal rules/integrated management system, statistical processes are regularly monitored and revised, if necessary. Revisions are carried out according to standard, established and transparent procedures. Regular analyses aim to improve data sources, statistical processes and products.

The data is revised upon change in regulatory requirements, the methodology, or when necessary.

Not applicable.

The data are published 24 months after the reference year, according to the requirements of Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011 on the European environmental economic accounts.

Not applicable

Not applicable.

All publications are prepared timely, according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

All publications are submitted for publication in a timely manner, according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys of NSI.

Data are compiled at the national level. Given the application of common definitions and classifications, the data are comparability with the other EU countries.

Not applicable.

Data are comparability over time. Time series are available since 1997 (since 2000 in INFOSTAT).

When the methodology changes, the data in the time series are revised.

2018-2022

Data are coherent with:

-          The principles, definitions and concepts of the European system of accounts (National accounts),

-          System of Environmental Economic Accounting 2012-Central Framework (SEEA CF),

-          Structural Business Statistics,

-          Statistics on foreign trade,

-          Survey "Environmental Goods and Services",

-          Survey "Revenues and expenditure for municipal waste and expenditure for water supply infrastructure".

A classification is applied, according to the Classification of Economic Activities, which allows joint analysis with national accounts data.

Еnvironmental protection expenditure accounts present data are compatible with the data reported under ESA, on the expenditure for environmental protection, i.e. the economic resources devoted by resident units to environmental protection. 

Data are coherence with the National Accounts (production and generation of income accounts; Gross fixed capital formation by NACE Rev.2, Resource Use tables; data based on the classification of functions of government).

The data are of high internal consistency. Within the framework of the quality assessment procedure, the consistency of primary and statistical data by sources, economic activities, national and regional level of aggregated and detailed data is checked.

Regular press release on the NSI website 

-          Statistical Yearbook;

-          Statistical Reference Book;

-           Electronic Publication "Environment";

"Bulgaria" (brochure).

The data on environmental protection and restoration expenditure are available on the NSI website at:

-          Environment Rubric

       -          Infostat system

Not applicable.

Anonymous individual data can be provided for scientific and research purposes upon individual request, according to the NSI Rules for providing anonymous individual data for scientific and research purposes.

Information service on request, according to the Rules for the dissemination of statistical products and services in NSI.

Not applicable

Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts Handbook 2017 - EPEA_HANDBOOK_2017.

Internal methodology "Environmental Statistics and Accounts".

High.

-          European Statistics Code of Practice

-          Integrated management system (Internal NSI site)

-          Generic Statistical Business Process Model (only in Bulgarian)

-          Handbook on internal quality audits of statistical processes and products in the NSI

-          Internal methodology "Environmental Statistics and Accounts".

Quality report is published annually with the publication of statistical data.

The costs (budget) for statistical surveys are disclosed in the National Statistical Program, published on the NSI website.

The priority in conducting statistical surveys is to reduce the burden on respondents.

Actions are being taken to alleviate the burden on respondents, such as: collecting and verifying primary data through the online-based information system "Environmental Statistics", containing strict arithmetic and logical control; improving the instructions for filling out questionnaires; providing methodological and technical assistance; continuously exploring the possibilities for using information from administrative and other sources; conducting annual trainings for respondents and NSI experts, etc.

The time required to complete the statistical forms is used as the main measure of the workload of the respondents. For this purpose, a section is included in each form regarding the time needed to fill in the form (including the time for data preparation), which the respondents must complete. Based on this information and considering the specifics of the survey, the respondents' workload can be determined as relatively high. The overall workload of the responsible experts is determined as high, especially in cases of data revisions from previous reporting periods.

Regulation (EO) No. 223/2009 on European statistics foresees the need to draw up general principles and guidelines guaranteeing the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and access to this confidential data, with due consideration of technical developments and user requirements in a democratic society.

The Statistics Act (Article 25, Paragraph 1) determines that the individual data obtained and collected during statistical surveys are a statistical secret and can only be used for statistical purposes. 

According to Art. 25 of the Statistics Act, individual data shall not be disclosed or provided. The provision of individual data is possible only according to Art. 26 of the Statistics Act.